A follow up
on the naturalist view of the existence of the mind given a material only cosmos -

Bear in mind that all that my previous article has done is to render the naturalist argument so flawed as to eviscerate it at its root. Unfortunately, I doubt that many naturalists have converted to theism with this argument. The common response of the naturalist is that, flawed though it may be, it is the only workable view of the cosmos we have. Once a naturalist, always a naturalist, I guess.

However, the theist already believes in the non-material and rejoices in the difficulties that the naturalist inherits from this argument.

One of the mysteries that juts its way into the issue is the undeniable fact that the mind, whatever it is, is able to affect bodily (material) changes without any physical involvement (look ma, no hands!).

Here are just a few examples:

heart rate

diastolic blood pressure

systolic blood pressure

sexual response and arousal

salivary flow

dilation of the pupil

galvanic skin response

This is just a small part of a much larger list. You will recognize that some of the above are what makes a polygraph test work.

How is it possible that the non-material has an affect on the material? And how does it work? (If your four-year old comes to you and says, "Mommy, how does my mind make my mouth water when I see a plate of your home-made cookies?", you've got a problem!)

If you are wondering why this and the previous article are relevant to you or your life, what I am getting at is the idea that the soul lives on independently from the body. Because this data certainly points in that direction. I am not qualified nor prepared to address that in any further detail. But it is something to think about, no?

However, there is a glich in this neat view. The glich is this: We apparently need the material in order to sustain the non-material.

How so? Well, if you have ever had surgery, you more than likely have experienced the hole in time phenomenon. The instant after you "go under" the anaesthetic, you wake up and the surgery is over, regardless of how long the surgery took. So, apparently, without the physical participating in your mental processes, your mind takes a leave of absence. So too with sleep but not quite as dramatically.

FWIW, this lends support to Jesus and Paul who both referred to death as sleep.

I apologize for the scattered, shot-gun approach to these issues, but I am not really qualified to write cogently about all of this. But I do believe it is something on which it is worth meditating.

Stay tuned for the clinching third post which I hope to write tomorrow.